Diabetes Treatment with Coffee, Tea, and Herbs December 23, 2009

Drinking a lot of coffee or tea reduces the risks of developing type 2 diabetes, according to analysis of 18 large studies pooled by the University of Sydney which involved more than 500,000 people. It is suspected that some undetermined chemical in coffee and tea might have a beneficial effect on glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity involved in diabetes. Some herbs may have mysterious compounds with similar effects. Compounds in Euonymus alata sieb, an invasive plant in California, was found to have blood sugar lowering effect and pancreas islet cell proliferation effect in an experiment in Japan. Yet, only one company pays attention to it.

By Samuel Chong
December 22, 2009

Los Angeles. According to Rachel Huxley of The University of Sydney, drinking a lot of coffee or tea has been linked to a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes. She pooled 18 studies conducted since 1966, which involved more than 500,000 people, of whom 21,000 developed diabetes. Taken together, the papers showed that people who had three to four cups of coffee a day had a 25 percent lower risk of diabetes compared with people who had one, two, or no cups of coffee. The risk of diabetes fell by 7 percent for each additional cup consumed. A similar association was found for decaffeinated coffee and tea.

The studies have taken accounts for any differences in such variables as body mass index, smoking, and, in some of the studies, socioeconomic status and total calories. The majority of the studies also took into account whether coffee or tea drinkers were consuming less of other beverages. “So it’s not that these people were consuming less Coke or other sugary drinks,’’ Huxley said. It is suspected some undetermined chemical in coffee and tea might have a beneficial effect on glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity involved in diabetes.

Some herbs also seem to have similar effects. One of them, called Euonymus alata sieb, is an invasive plant in California. Compounds in this plant were found to have blood sugar lowering effect and pancreas islet cell proliferation effect in an experiment in Japan, according to a book titled “Marvelous Yu Xiao San Conquers Diabetes“. It indicates that Euonymus alata sieb, one of the main ingredients in Yu Xiao San 8805, a natural dietary supplement for diabetes, was found to lower the blood sugar levels in normal and alloxan diabetic animals in an experiment done in Japan. Sodium oxalacetate, its active ingredient, when administered long-term, is found to proliferate the islet cells of the pancreas in rats. Currently, Yu Xiao San 8805, is the only diabetes related product on the market that contains such ingredient.

The book also writes about a preliminary double blind, randomized controlled animal study about Yu Xiao San 8805 conducted at the Stanford University School of Medicine in the 1990’s for the application of a research grant from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. It has shown that Yu Xiao San 8805 has statistically significant effect on the increase in triglycerides (TG) in these streptozotocin-induced insulin resistant diabetic rats. A report can be found at http://www.certifiedchinesetranslation.com/openaccess/Yu-Xiao-San-Report-Translation.pdf

Drinking coffee and tea helps type 2 diabetes patients. Choosing the right herbs may help them too.